Ernest Morrell

Ernest Morrell (1971–2026) was an American scholar of English education and literacy studies whose work focused on the intersections of literacy, equity, culture, and civic engagement. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1993, followed by a California single-subject teaching credential in secondary English (1994), an M.A. in education (1997), and a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture (2001) from the University of California, Berkeley. Before and during his graduate studies he taught high school English in Oakland, California, experiences that informed his later scholarship on youth literacies and critical English education.

Morrell held the Coyle Professorship in Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame, where he was also a faculty member in the English and Africana Studies departments, Director of the Notre Dame Center for Literacy Education, and Associate Dean for the Humanities and Equity in the College of Arts and Letters. He previously served as the Macy Professor of English Education and Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. A past president of the National Council of Teachers of English and an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association, he was also elected to the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His publications include coauthoring *Every Child a Super Reader: 7 Strengths to